The 3 roles of the Game Master

The name given to the “Master” varies from game to game, as do the duties assigned to them: Narrator, Keeper, Dungeon Master, Facilitator, Fortune-teller, Game Master, Referee, Moderator, Storyteller and many more. As we shall see, the choice of terms is no accident.

N.B.: there are also masterless games, where the role is held by everyone at once or in rotation, sometimes splitting the duties among different people. We will explore the topic in a future article. The figure of the game master has changed and evolved over the years. The Dungeon Master of old-school RPGs, dominated by dungeon crawling, was replaced in later editions by the Game Master, who manages not just a dungeon but the whole setting beyond it. As the players’ possibilities of interacting with imaginary worlds grew, so did the mechanics a game master handles. Even in many narrative games the Master remains an essential point of reference, even when players are given great freedom to improvise.

We have tried to map out the roles a game master takes on during a session. From our reflections, three main macro-categories emerged: Narrator, Referee and Simulator.

The Narrator creates a story in which the characters are the protagonists. They narrate events, describing environments and places, introducing NPCs and antagonists. In this role the master does not merely say what happens: they fill the game world with details that make the experience more vivid. They add creative elements, managing tension and pacing much like a director or screenwriter would. Naturally, the extreme case in which players have no freedom of action and become powerless spectators is to be avoided.

The Referee mediates between the rules of the game and the players. Sometimes to explain how the mechanics work, other times to curb individual players’ attempts to force things. The importance of this role is closely tied to the complexity of the game system. Narrative games have very simple systems for resolving tests and conflicts, while other games carry a much larger body of rules (e.g. Traveller and Rolemaster). Neither is better or worse from this standpoint: the personal tastes of players and master determine the preference.

The Simulator runs the game world and makes it react to the characters. They play the NPCs the players talk to, describe the results of the players’ actions and the outcomes of their choices. This role goes beyond the Referee, since no ruleset is so detailed as to provide a mechanic for every eventuality, and beyond the Narrator, since it adds nothing creative to what already exists but simply simulates the outcome of a decision. Some games provide tables, mathematical systems or worked examples to help the Master keep the game dynamic and responsive in every situation. Playing NPCs also falls into this category. In roleplaying games — where everything happens in the participants’ imagination, with a few aids such as sheets or miniatures — someone has to imagine and manage everything that surrounds the players.

Beyond these roles we identified two more, which are not always present and depend on social mechanics more than on the game itself: the Entertainer and the Organiser.

The Entertainer

Whether at the tables of a fair, in a live stream or at a special event, the Master makes the game entertaining for players and spectators alike. Many people, for instance, have merged the figure of the master with that of the youtuber or influencer.

The Organiser

They help players create and manage characters, organise game nights and try to keep everyone at the table on good terms. Unfortunately, the asymmetric relationship that often forms between players and Master invests the latter with a position of responsibility. Though it is not a duty that should fall to them, it is very commonly and spontaneously attributed to them.